Poor play could prompt
movesSJ drops back-to-back regulation losses for
1st time this season3/3/09 - By Mike Lee

Last week, Sharks GM Doug Wilson publicly affirmed that he is content
with his current roster. He may want to rethink that position after Tuesday
nights performance against the Dallas Stars. With the NHL trade deadline
less than 24 hours away, the Sharks sputtered to a 4-1 loss to the visiting
Stars at HP Pavilion. It was also the first time the Sharks lost back-to-back
games in regulation all season.

Dallas leaned on the physical play
that helped them knock off the Sharks in the playoffs last season, and the
results were eerily familiar. San Jose got caught up in the shenanigans, and
fell behind early. That trend, along with surrendering power play goals
continued, and for the ninth time in their past fifteen games.

"We
worked on our defenses and coverage in practice yesterday," said Sharks head
coach Todd McLellan. "Some of the mistakes we made tonight were directly
addressed. Either we did a very poor job as coaches addressing them, or we
didn't pick up on some of the cues that we need to. We'll go back to the
drawing board and try a different approach as coaches and make sure they get
the message."

Recently called up farm hand Brad Staubitz and Stars
winger Krys Barch tried to energize their respective teams by dropping the
gloves 5 minutes into the contest. The motivation leaned in favor of the Stars,
who converted a minute later when James Neal tapped in a deflection for the
early 1-0 Stars lead. Sharks netminder Brian Boucher made the initial save on
centerman Brian Sutherbys wraparound attempt, but the puck slipped
through the crease to Neal on the weak side.

Niklas Grossman was sent
off for hauling down Patrick Marleau at 7:49 and the Sharks would capitalize.
Joe Thornton deflected in his 19th goal of the season after Christian Ehrhoff
sent a shot in from the left dot. Thornton was parked at the top of the crease,
and easily redirected the shot past Marty Turco.

Joe Pavelski and Mike
Ribiero would mix it up with 6 minutes to play in the period, after the Sharks
centerman hooked his opponent. The play would end with sticks flying and both
players earning 4 minutes worth of penalties. Ribiero would catch Pavelski with
his stick earning a high sticking double minor.

Things got testy at
the end of the period after a play in front of the Stars net. Two Stars
defenders smothered Ryane Clowe as he went to the net, and a flurry of bodies
piled up in the vicinity. Somewhere in the melee, Pavelski was whistled for
head butting a Dallas player and was tossed with a match penalty for intent to
injure Darryl Sydor. Sydor would earn two minutes on the play for roughing,
resulting in a 3 minute power play which would take affect in the 2nd period.

Replays showed that Pavelski never touched Sydor, but replays
dont overturn match penalties in the NHL, so the Sharks were forced to
play without their centerman for the remainder of the game.

The two
teams would combine for 41 minutes in penalties in that opening period.

Rob Blake would take a cross checking penalty during the Stars
carryover power play, giving the Stars a full 2-minute 5-on-3. San Jose almost
escaped, but Mike Modano scored with 3 seconds remaining on Blakes
penalty. The goal broke an 0-for-30 Stars drought on the power play against the
Sharks.

McLellan stressed the importance of Pavelski's ejection after
teh game.

"It made a huge impact on our team," said McLellan.
"He's perhaps been our best player over the past few games, a penalty killer,
he anchors a power play - when you lose him you have to have people pick up
their game a little more, and that didn't happen tonight."

San Jose did
little to generate many offensive chances, the remainder of the period.

Sutherby would make it a 3-1 game on a simple case of one line
out-working another. With the Sharks chasing their tails in their own end, Matt
Niskanen, Fabian Brunnstrom and Sutherby worked the forecheck to create a
turnover in the Sharks zone, then put one past Boucher while three Sharks stood
and watched.

"Two games in a week we've played against that team that
we've played very well, Stars head coach Dave Tippett said. "We didn't get
rewarded for our work in the first game but I thought we got rewarded for it
tonight. We created a lot of chances and capitalized on those chances, we
defended hard when we had to, and Marty Turco made some great saves when he had
to. We competed really, really hard and that's the way it's going to have to be
if we're going to be successful. We did that tonight and found a way to
win."

Neal added the back breaker with a rifle shot from the top of the
right circle less than 2 minutes later. A neutral zone turnover turned into
Mike Modano racing up the left wing, before sliding a pass to Neal for the
rookies 20th goal of the season.

"We needed to get rewarded for some
hard work," Tippett added. "We've played some very good games, over that
five-game losing streak. I thought three games we had a real good chance to
win, a couple of them we didn't play very well, but we needed something to give
us that jolt of energy that our work would be compensated, and the win is a
good compensation for that."

Game Notes:

The Sharks
announced on Tuesday that Jeremy Roenick suffered a shoulder injury and will be
out until the playoffs. Mike Grier also underwent knee surgery on Tuesday and
will also miss the remainder of the the regular season. Claude Lemieux was a
coaches decision scratch.

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